Another Study Touts Mental-Health Benefits of Exercise

Nov 15, 2011

Image via Photodisc

By Meghan G. Loftus

Just another reason to put down the clicker and put on your running shoes: A study of 50,000 middle-aged women in the American Journal of Epidemiology links more TV time and less exercise time with an increased risk of depression.

The report notes that the study doesn't prove that TV-watching and lack of exercise cause depression, but it says, "More time spent off the couch and being active could boost self-esteem and women's sense of control, as well as endorphins in their blood," Reuters reports.

The study found that more intense exercise (at least brisk walking) was required to demonstrate a benefit. And though causality is still murky--perhaps the women who watched TV more and exercised less were already depressed before the study began, thus the decreased activity--study author Michel Lucas from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston says the message should be that replacing TV time with workout time could lower one's risk of depression.

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